# Nutella - most deceptive product on the shelf? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285 "2013-02-24T21:19:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/141 "2013-02-25T19:22:30Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > LD, you haven’t contributed a thing except to claim repeatedly that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I have no more patience in trying to engage your contentious bullshit. Have a nice day, and a smear of Nutella or some other shit on toast to calm you down. Really? So backing up my assertions with cites is contributing nothing, but you’re allowed to rant to your heart’s content about a subject you clearly haven’t researched at all? I guess you only consider agreement to be worthwhile contribution. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/142 "2013-02-25T19:23:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So what do you propose, **NitroPress**? I’d like to answer. I actually have an answer. But not one I’m prepared to dump into the bitstream here. It’s part of something larger that will become public in the very near future. And no, it’s not Section 1501 of the FDA code. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/143 "2013-02-25T19:23:48Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Nothing, just that Dave is apparently the opposite. He has no issues with portioning chips but ice cream is a struggle. No surprise that people are different. But in both cases, I think “single serving” is a proper representation of what a “single serving” is, not some distorted advertising nonsense designed to fool the consumer. In fact, much packaging these days _is_ including the “single serving” and “whole package” information to make that even _more_ transparent. The only problem with the “single serving” bit is that the surveys were taken in the 70s/80s. I assume if the same surveys were taken today, there would be anywhere from 1.5-2x bloat for what constitutes “a single serving.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/144 "2013-02-25T19:25:12Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I’d like to answer. I actually have an answer. But not one I’m prepared to dump into the bitstream here. It’s part of something larger that will become public in the very near future. > > And no, it’s not Section 1501 of the FDA code. I’m all for transparency, so let us know when you have an answer. It’s not going to change the way I shop, but as long as I have all the information I need to make a buying decision, I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/145 "2013-02-25T19:33:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t understand. Serving sizes were determined by the FDA, using surveys of what people typically ate, in the 70s and 80s. Advertising has nothing to do with serving size. I know how serving sizes were set. When I said quantities to use, I was thinking more along the lines of seeing how a commercial uses a product and then assuming that you have to use it like that. Just because the mom slathers nutella over a slice of bread and serves it for breakfast doesn’t mean that that’s how we all use it or that the portrayal is somehow a dirty underhanded attempt to infiltrate solid American homes. I mean, it _is_ dirty and underhanded but since when has advertising not been trying to trick us into buying things we didn’t want or need? The outrage here seems to me to come from a very naive place. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/146 "2013-02-25T19:41:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So what do you propose, **NitroPress**? > [@NitroPress](#): > > I’d like to answer. I actually have an answer. But not one I’m prepared to dump into the bitstream here. It’s part of something larger that will become public in the very near future. > > And no, it’s not Section 1501 of the FDA code. I’m picturing cigarette pack-style warnings and pictures of liposuctions, gastric-bypass, and diabetes-related amputations on every jar of Nutella. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/147 "2013-02-25T19:49:12Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I know how serving sizes were set. When I said quantities to use, I was thinking more along the lines of seeing how a commercial uses a product and then assuming that you have to use it like that. Just because the mom slathers nutella over a slice of bread and serves it for breakfast doesn’t mean that that’s how we all use it or that the portrayal is somehow a dirty underhanded attempt to infiltrate solid American homes. I mean, it _is_ dirty and underhanded but since when has advertising not been trying to trick us into buying things we didn’t want or need? The outrage here seems to me to come from a very naive place. Ah. Then I think we’re on the same page. (And, to be fair, the amount of Nutella used in that commercial on the wholegrain bread is actually a restrained amount. Half a “serving size” if not less.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/148 "2013-02-25T19:52:28Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > I’m picturing cigarette pack-style warnings and pictures of liposuctions, gastric-bypass, and diabetes-related amputations on every jar of Nutella. 😛 No, that would be Section 1501 of the FDA code as implemented under Obama’s third term. I think a number of posters in this thread, especially those that have stopped to comment how yummy Nutella is, have missed my point. I’m not agitating for health food, or the removal of all insufficiently healthy food from the market, or anything of the kind. I’m known to steal a spoonful of chocolate topping from the jar in the fridge myself, and worse. My sole concern is the deceptive nature of the way this (and many other,\*\* pulykamell\*\*, happy?) products are marketed. You want to sell people sludge in a jar? Fine. But IMVHO, you should only be able to do so by labeling it sludge in a jar. And despite the holy FDA scrolls and all their teachings, it’s hard to find a single packaged product in a grocery store that doesn’t have a wrapper covered with something between nonsense, bullshit and bald-faced lies - beginning with many of the product names. If anyone disagrees or thinks I’m overstating the case, fine. I won’t argue. If you’re so smart you’re never deceived by product packaging or marketing, praise be. If you think anyone who is is the one at fault… well, I’ll get back to you. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/149 "2013-02-25T19:55:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m all for transparency, so let us know when you have an answer. It’s not going to change the way I shop, but as long as I have all the information I need to make a buying decision, I’m happy. Some people do. All people should. And in no way do I believe that there should be restrictions on \*what \*is sold - only _how_. “Transparency” isn’t a term I would use, but it frames the issue perfectly. Frankly, we shouldn’t need 1500 sections of FDA regulation; that is a prima facie indication that the system is broken beyond repair. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/150 "2013-02-25T19:59:25Z")
When I was living in Germany Nutella was sometimes part of my breakfast. I’d spread a little on my kaiser roll or a piece of toast. When I moved back to the United States it was a few years before I could find it at any grocery store. Good stuff. Never thought it was healthy though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/151 "2013-02-25T20:04:36Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > My sole concern is the deceptive nature of the way this (and many other,\*\* pulykamell\*\*, happy?) products are marketed. (And I don’t find them deceptive. They’re not making any health claims. But anyhow, on to the next question.) So where do you draw the line? Is a nostalgia ad okay for you? You have a mom, spreading Nutella on toast (or a crepe or whatever), thinking back to her own childhood in the Old World, where her mom was doing the same for her. Flash back to current times, kids come running up for their sugar bombs, tagline something like “Nutella: Some Things Never Change” or whatever. I’m not an ad guy, but you get the idea. Is that wrong in your world? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/152 "2013-02-25T20:04:54Z")
I agree, and hopefully I indicated it properly in my earlier post, that anyone who thought Nutella was a health food should, upon their first taste of it, recognize immediately what it actually is: a desert spread. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/153 "2013-02-25T20:07:23Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I know some people will be shocked, but (you might want to sit down for this) - I’m in my early 40s and have managed to get this far in life without **ever eating Nutella**. Really. I also have no kids, and when you add that I’ve never seen the need to have a nut butter other than good old reliable peanut butter (tahini does not count, and I use that for hummus), it’s quite possible that the occasional person might not realize that this is fancy frosting. I’ve seen the “gosh, put this on bread for your kiddos” happy-shiny commercials and assumed they were marketing it hard to the peanut-allergic and the “hint of cocoa” flavor was to make this weird nut butter palatable to generations of picky eater kids. If I bought it for **myself** (but I wouldn’t because ugh, I don’t even want a “hint of cocoa” in my nut butter), however, I would read the damned label. (And moms probably should too, but then again, we have advertising rules here for a reason, so whatever.) You’re really missing something then. It’s delicious on crepes, for example. But for dessert, as I said – not for breakfast. I’ve had it, once in a wihle, since I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/154 "2013-02-25T20:08:32Z")
> [@WTC/Pentagon Attack \*\*\*FACT\*\*\* Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-pentagon-attack-fact-thread/80904/53): > > I disagree with your blanket assertions about fruit juice - assuming we’re both talking about real, reasonably unprocessed and non-additive juices, > … > in any imaginable way, with reality constricted to a few square inches of dense type. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t think that’s ethical, allowable or “right” on any level. It’s amazing how wrong you are about fruit juice. and yes I mean 100% pure juice products, such as Tropicana brand not-from-concentrate orange juice. Ounce for ounce Tropicana has more calories than Coke, essentially the same amount of sugar, and contains zero vitamins needed by anyone, ever. The only nutrition they are even allowed to label is Vit c (which basically no one is short of) and a trivial amount of calcium. All other claims fall below the threshold where they can assert it on a nutrition label. TOJ: 168 cal per 12 oz Of which: 34g sugar Coke: 140 cal per 12 oz Of which: 39g sugar In short your defense of OJ is indefensible, especially compared to a product obviously made of chocolate!!! Marketing for OJ is a thousand times more deceptive. Hmm, is it a good idea to each chocolate for breakfast every single day??? Gee I just cant figure it out on my own… With OJ even you are fooled to the point where you defend them! I used to feel the same way till I wised up and looked at the label. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/155 "2013-02-25T20:09:49Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > You’re really missing something then. It’s delicious on crepes, for example. But for dessert, as I said – not for breakfast. I’ve had it, once in a wihle, since I was a kid. Nothing wrong with it for breakfast. It’s used just like jam or syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/156 "2013-02-25T20:18:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is that wrong in your world? In _my_ world? My gosh, this is all _mine_? N’emind, I get you. What I don’t have is an answer short enough to fit here, and what I can say isn’t specific to the topic of this thread. So if I can hijack my own thread and make it clear that this is _not_ specific to Nutella or that I am even addressing your specific example - We have become so conditioned by advertising, and we so misunderstand its function and intent that we accept blithering nonsense at every turn. Nearly everyone says something like “Oh, I never listen to ads” (however they mean ‘listen’ in this context), which may be true for any individual ad (“I just saw a Budweiser ad and didn’t run out to drink one, see?”) but dismisses the collective force they apply to us, individually and as a society. So blandly meaningless ads showing happy kids having a bite of something their mommy and grandmommy loved is perhaps benign in itself, but part of a specific and collective conditioning that I think is excessive, destructive and utterly unnecessary. As I’ve pointed out in other threads, most advertising today consists of a product shot coupled with a logo or brand name shot; if there is anything else, it tends to be inconsequential filler because we are sufficiently conditioned to respond to those two key elements that anything else is unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/157 "2013-02-25T20:19:34Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Nothing wrong with it for breakfast. It’s used just like jam or syrup. Yeah, I’m not really getting where the pancakes slathered in butter and syrup is perfectly acceptable but toast with chocolate hazelnut spread is not. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/158 "2013-02-25T20:21:05Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > In short your defense of OJ is indefensible… I haven’t defended OJ. I said I disagreed with pulykamell’s repeated use of it in the discussion as an equivalent product. I am not here to champion one food over another, or one sludgefest under another, or anything of the kind. Half a dozen different contributors have turned this into a health-food war, but I wasn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/159 "2013-02-25T20:25:06Z")
Your op asked if Nutella is the most deceptive product. Hells no. The most deceptive product in my opinion is orange juice. A product you championed as being a genuinely healthy thing to consume daily for breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285/160 "2013-02-25T20:26:40Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I haven’t defended OJ. I said I disagreed with pulykamell’s repeated use of it in the discussion as an equivalent product. > > I am not here to champion one food over another, or one sludgefest under another, or anything of the kind. Half a dozen different contributors have turned this into a health-food war, but I wasn’t one of them. You asked if Nutella was the “most deveptive” in the subject line of your OP. Some posters are telling you they think OJ is worse. ETA: ninja’ed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nutella-most-deceptive-product-on-the-shelf/651285.md?page=9)